


The Human Vortiguant

by Markothemartiantrollan



Series: The Human Vortiguant [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life, Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Gore, Electricity, Forzen(mentioned), Gen, Nihilanth, Not A Game AU, Past Child Abuse, Slight OOC, Sunkist(mentioned), character origin, later becomes full on angst, mentions half life characters, mentions the past, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:22:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25243846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Markothemartiantrollan/pseuds/Markothemartiantrollan
Summary: Xen is an awful, awful world. Benrey hated that place more than he could imagine; He hated the gross fleshy walls most of the caves had, he hated being teleported when he least expected it, he hated how every living thing tried to kill him, he hated how the only organisms he had an actual strong connection to had to live their miserable lives on there.
Series: The Human Vortiguant [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828774
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	1. Electricity Isn't Fun

**Author's Note:**

> This is a not a game au, in this au, Benrey was born on Xen(as for how I'll explain in a prequel fic) and was raised by the vortiguants. When he was 10-13 he was sent to earth. If there are any questions i'll try to answer in a non spoilery way.

<"

Getting burned by electricity was not pleasant.

Benrey felt himself going down memory lane when the electric beams on the broken computer shot at his body. He remembered how his small body would be put into a state of shock when the small bolt of electricity would disappear. And how his burning body would collide harshly onto the cold floor.

He felt himself mentally cringe when he remembered how he would cry for hours the second he regained control of himself, calling out to any other Vortiguant that wasn’t the one who had left him in that state.

He couldn’t remember why the Vortiguants would occasionally electrocute him, he wasn’t that much of a disobedient child when he was little, and it didn’t seem right that they would shock him out of sadistic pleasure. They would either dote on him or pay no attention to him. Perhaps all that shocking was one of the causes of his sickly grey skin, Xen definitely left his skin color unnatural compared to other people.

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard Gordon gasp out in relief.

“Oh fucking!- Oh thank God! Thank Goodness. Hey dude, can you please stay dead this time?”

Benrey filled his burning lungs with air. He turned his head to Gordon and nonchalantly stood up.

Gordon glared at him and said, “Of course you won’t, I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised at all.” He threw his arms into the air and turned away.

Dr. Coomer walked up beside him and said, “Now Gordon, don’t you know it’s rude to leave your teammates behind? Haven’t you heard the saying; ‘The team that stays together, dies together.’?”

“Wha- It’s ‘The FAMILY that stays together, dies together’ and I’m NOT planning on staying if Benrey hopefully ever kicks the bucket. Maybe with you or Tommy possibly, but not Benrey for fuck’s sake.”

Benrey looked at him with a sad face and asked, “dude, you’re just gonna leave your family behind? that’s just so cruel, Fleeman. are you gonna tell Joshua that you’re leaving for milk as well?”

“You are not a part of my fa- You know what, here.” Gordon led him over to a corner, “Why don’t you just sit in over there? Just sit in that fucking corner, we’ll just leave and I’ll come back with my passport or my PSP or whatever the fuck you want.”

Benrey stared at the corner for almost a minute. Gordon started to think that he was actually going to do it.

“nah Fleeman, im not letting you leave to get milk.” Benrey said with a little smirk, walking ahead.

“Yeah, I figured…” Gordon said with an exasperated breath, rubbing his eyes.

They trudged through the hallways, Benrey felt his knees getting a little sore. It didn’t phase him. He thought about making the group take a break to prevent them from progressing for at least a little while. But, he knew that they would not at all be tired and would just leave him behind.

He kept glancing at every corner, hoping that none of the Vortiguants would appear in front of his team. He was lucky, or rather, they were lucky that they never teleported in front of his group. He didn’t want to have to get into a fight with the group.

His Vortigese was rusty but it saved him from being fried whenever he happened to catch a Vortiguant wandering around. Every Vortiguant he spoke to had recognized him, they all gave him the same reaction; They all gently grabbed his hand and called him their hero or rather, “The one who will free the Vortiguants”. Those reactions brought back a sliver of bubbliness he hadn’t really felt in years. The reactions weren’t too special to him, as the ones he spoke to weren’t any of the ones he recognized. He couldn’t find any of the ones who raised him.

Dread had slowly started to creep up on him, he had started to get slowly worried. The Vortiguants weren’t some weak-ass bitches that could be easily killed, but he still felt himself getting slightly anxious.

His patience was also beginning to wear thin, how strong can two boomers, a manchild, and some filf be? He figured that they were going to get killed in a couple hours, but they would just **not die.** He didn’t really want to have to kill them himself(he didn’t help the Military for no reason), but they had to go. If those fuckers reached the Lambda Complex, he knew that they were capable enough of sealing the gate. Sealing the gate was something he wanted completely, Xen was such an awful world.

The wild life on there sucked, the ‘people’ on there were such assholes, and the Nihilanth was probably still up and alive ordering his family to do ridiculous tasks. His face grimaced when the Nihilanth popped in his mind. He didn’t want anymore of Xen’s creatures infesting Earth, but he was not at all letting any of the ones he cared about get left behind on there.

He lost track of how many years he tried to figure out a way to bring them to Earth. When he had finally given up, he conveniently chose to work with the lab that was studying the same exact world. It was likely that most of them were already on Earth but he wanted to be sure. One thing he was very sure about was that when he did reunite with them, they were all most likely going to spend weeks playing his favorite games. And that they would see the childhood he never got to have.

Playing any sorts of games was something he never got to do when he was younger. Spending his days hiding from Xen’s wild life never gave him a chance to be physically rambunctious. There were only two things he could do for fun; try to mentally tire out the Vortiguants by constantly asking them random questions until they would either huff out in frustration and leave or snap at him. Or drawing. He would scratch shapes onto the fleshy walls and try to draw a portrait of what he believed he looked like. Neither of the activities could satiate his thirst for fun.

He found that he spent most days being either bored out of his mind or fearing for his life. He figured if he lived on Xen any longer, he probably would have shoved a headcrab onto his head out of insanity. The thought made him chuckle out loud.

His chuckle broke the silence between the group, Tommy turned his head to him and said with a smile, “I-uh I like the sound of your laugh Mr. Benrey Benrey Benrey.”

“yeah, my laugh sounds pretty satisfying.”

“More like ‘Pretty grating’, Jesus.” Gordon muttered under his breath.

Benrey snickered at the comment, the insults Gordon would throw at him were a little familiar at times.


	2. Giving Up Works Sometimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Earth gave Benrey freedom, it gave him a chance to not have to live in fear. So why can't he fulfill the Vortiguants' wishes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so before you read this, i just want to let you know that the timeline in this au is different than the half life timeline(or the hlvrai timeline for that matter, both timelines are very unclear). So just letting you know up ahead so it doesn't get confusing. this chapter goes into benrey's life on earth. Also trigger warning, at one point in the story benrey gets called a "feral boy" so if that is triggering, you might want to click away

Most of the insults and yells Benrey got from Gordon felt very familiar to him at times. It humoured him greatly, he felt it had been a long while since he was slandered. 

When he was sent to Earth, his reputation never was on the positive side of the graph. His first contact with another human was him being discovered by a boy and his mom while he was raiding a dumpster for food.

Needless to say, CPS was there in the blink of an eye. Because he didn’t know any human languages and had no birth certificate or documents of any kind, things were left very complicated for the agency. He also didn’t want to cooperate, it took a while for the workers to gain his trust.

His DNA was tested and he was determined to be the son of one of Black Mesa’s scientists. The agency figured that by Benrey, he meant Barney. So, to his future dismay, his name was legally changed to Barney Green.

When he finally understood some English, he was bombarded with many questions about his mother. Eventually the agency realized they weren’t getting anywhere. So, he was sent to New Mexico and was given to a foster family.

His foster parents already regretted their choice in the first couple days. Benrey had slept in any small crevice he could find, he didn’t realize that the food given to him was edible, he ate like a wolf when he finally realized it was food, he didn’t respond to his legal name, and he wasn’t too ecstatic about showers. His foster mom nearly had a heart attack when she first saw him praying and chanting in the backyard at midnight.

When he was ready to go to school, he became a prime target.

He had a lot to be teased about. His limited English became a double-edged sword, he was teased harshly for not being able to form a proper sentence, but at the same time, he didn’t know he was being insulted and didn’t know how to react to it.

He could not remember the amount of times he was called an “Alien, Feral Boy, Creep, Crazy, and Idiot”. His wishes to be called Benrey had the opposite effect. Though the bullying was short-lived, his reactions were never satisfying.

His first interactions with kids left him confused, he didn’t understand why every person looked different than him. He didn’t understand how the whole “boys and girls” thing worked. The thing that confused him the most was why they allowed themselves to fall or collide into walls or objects. Were they not able to pass through solid matters?

It never bothered him too much for him to ask about it.

He ended up becoming the quiet loner boy, who had little to no friends. Being shunned had quite an effect on him at the time, seeing all the other kids playing with each other left him envious and sour.

He became an emotional wreck when he first saw all the kids going up to their parents when school time was over. Seeing the Moms and Dads holding their childrens’ hands became a constant reminder of what he was never going to have again. He wouldn’t ever see his previous guardians ever again.

He remembered sitting down at the middle of the entrance at the school and crying into his hands.

His foster parents tried to give him a loving environment growing up. He did care for them, but he didn’t feel the same connection he had compared to his Vortiguant family.

He mostly found solace spending a lot of his time playing video games. The day he got a PSP, he couldn’t let go of it. Something was just so addicting about playing shooter games. He felt he could just drown out his emotions by playing.

As he grew, his daily plans became simple; go to school, go home, do lame homework, plan a rescue mission, do his spiritual chants, try to teleport, give up, and play video games. Things went like that for many years.

As Benrey grew older, he started to spend less and less time trying to figure out a way to rescue them. By the time he moved out, he gave up completely. He wasn’t smart, and he didn’t have the power to teleport people. He believed that it was a lost cause. It hurt him badly, but he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life trying to do the impossible.

He wanted to explore his biological family tree and was curious about the place his deceased mom worked at.

He legally changed his name and began to work at Black Mesa. He had a good work life, he was on friendly terms with the other guards. He found it funny how one of the guards had the name Barney Calhoun, he had pondered what would have happened if he didn’t change his name.

His favorite part about working at Black Mesa was how he got to bother the scientists. He didn’t directly bother them too much, as he didn’t want to get fired, but if he was hiding inside a wall or underneath the floor, he would knock something over to freak them out or trip them.

His work life meant nothing to him the day he learned that the scientists were trying to explore and study Xen.

He was hiding inside the wall, casually eavesdropping on a conversation. Then and there he learned about Black Mesa’s teleportation technology and what a resonance cascade was.

Hearing that it was not physically impossible, that he had an **actual** chance to save his family brought something in him that he hadn’t felt in forever. He nearly shouted “fuck yesss” and almost blew his cover. He went back to his post and tried to stay composed until his shift was over.

The second he got home, he got onto his PS3 account and messaged all his friends, “gess whos not an orphan anymore bitchheesss.”

Most of his online friends just responded with a question mark, but he paid no attention to that. He needed to cause a resonance cascade, and he was going to make sure that it would happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't fully understand how cps works or what would happen if to a kid with no birth certificate but their parents were american were found by cps so I hope I made things realistic. Also, ill go into depth with benrey's powers in later chapters


	3. Mind If I Use Your Teleporter?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benrey's sorta bored and just wants to speedrun his rescue mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short delay. TW: there is some slight animal abuse in this chapter, its brief and not too harsh. Also, i made an animation for this fic https://stickygurl1234.tumblr.com/post/624027229217800192/the-intro-to-my-fanfiction

“gordon FEETman!” Benrey yelled as he was uppercutted off the mechanical puzzle. 

He grunted in pain as he collided into the ground. He felt many of his bones shatter into pieces.

He laid on the ground for a couple minutes, waiting for his body to heal. During the process, he thought about what his next steps would be.

He was sure that the Nihilanth was still alive considering that all the Vortiguants he saw still had the mind-controlling bracelets on them. He barely knew about any of the technology Xen had.

All he remembered being told was that the bracelets were created by the Nihilanth and forced the Vortiguants to do labor when told.

He knew that his next steps were going to involve facing the creature. He didn’t know too much about the Nihilanth, all he knew was that it was basically the evil tyrant of Xen and that it was really OP.

He groaned, he didn’t want to go face the Nihilanth. He was tired and done with all of this, even the adrenaline he felt when the Resonance Cascade happened wore off.

He was having fun with the journey at first, but now he wanted to just get his family and go home to sleep for a week.

Part of him wanted to just face the Nihilanth with the Science Team to get things done easier, but he figured that more drama would probably happen after the Nihilanth would be killed. And he didn’t want to risk being actually killed as well. Plus, he was pretty OP himself, so fighting it probably wouldn’t be too hard.

When he felt his body finally heal, he passed through the ground and started looking for the Lambda Complex.

While on his way there, he peaked his head through a wall and noticed a circle of turrets. He was a little surprised when he saw a soldier grabbing a humongous dog by the scruff of the neck towards the circle of turrets.

Was this Tommy’s dog, Sunkist? He didn’t care too much to find out and continued moving. He found a glass door, there he noticed a scientist talking to another guard. The scientist took notice of him and let out a gasp. 

He opened the door and said, “I apologize, you surprised me. With all that's going on, the mere sight of any person leaves me on edge.”

“sounds like you’re turning crazy.”

The scientist gave him an annoyed look and replied, “Yes well, it's good you made it here. We're going to need extra backup with our next plans.”

“if you’re talking about the military, there basically extinct now. you guys were too late to join the raid.” Benrey said, looking towards the glass door.

The scientist and the other guard both gave him confused looks. The scientist said, “Wuh-no...Are they really?”

“yea, cept for one tho. but im sure Fleeman will get him, so if you wanna be the one to take out the last member of the military, you’re gonna have to hurry.”

“Well no, our plans aren’t to wipe out the remaining of the military(and I highly doubt they’re all dead)." 

The other guard interrupted, “It should be! When that Freeman guy gets here and you guys do your plan, we don’t need any distractions to mess the whole teleportation thing.” 

“I am sure there will be distractions nonetheless! I don’t know if you remember this, but the creatures from the Border world happen to spontaneously teleport anywhere. And if this person is right, I doubt we’re going to be bothered by any HECU soldiers.”

They all quietly for a moment. Benrey broke the silence, asking, “so uh, your plan with Fleeman, whats the details?”

“We plan to send him to the Border world via teleportation. He needs to fight this powerful creature there, hopefully he’ll be able to kill it.”

“He better kill it.” The other guard stated.

“Well, all we can do is pray when he gets there.” The scientist solemnly said.

Benrey stepped closer to the scientist and said, “yeah we could do that, but i have a better idea: i could go there first and speedrun kill the creature.”

The scientist glared at him and said, “This isn’t the time for jokes. This is a serious matter that shouldn’t be made light of.”

“im not joking, the creature you’re talking about, the uh...Nihilanth. Feetman probably wouldn’t even be able to find it. i know the layout- well some of the layout of Xen.”

“Good grief, what are you talking about. What do you mean you ‘know the layout of Xen’?”

“eh, it’s nothing i really talked about. but uh, i spent some of my life there and know some of the layout of the world. im sure id be able to find it faster than Feetman could.”

“Right well, even if you were able to find this ‘Nihilanth’ faster than Mr. Freeman, it would be a suicide missio-”

“yea well, im not gonna die and i need to go there.” Benrey’s face turned serious.

“Well, I’m sorry but you’re not-Guhh!” The scientist interrupted himself when Benrey pointed his gun to his own head. He pulled the trigger and stared into the scientist’s eyes. 

“yeah, like i said, im not gonna die. so can you send me there? please.” 

The scientist stared at him, almost hyperventilating. 

He eventually answered “O-oh okay…” 

The three of them started to head to the main portal control.

He stood in the room alone until another scientist entered the room. The other scientist walked up to some control power and shouted, “Um okay Mr. Benrey, I’m going to warm up the machines! I’d practice your long jump if I were you.”

Benrey walked around the room, looking at the giant machine. The scientist exclaimed to him, “Alright! I can open the portal now. However, I can’t be distracted during this very complicated process. And please don’t go into the beam until I tell you to.”

Benrey nodded and stared at the machine. Red and blue lights flashed into the room and he saw the blunt metal claws move up. 

The scientist shouted, “Oh dear!” as Xenian militia suddenly appeared into the room. Benrey carefully shot at the aliens, trying not to use too much of his ammo. 

He saw the electrical beams turn yellow and heard “Its ready now Benrey! Go, go, go!”

He ran towards the yellow beam and jumped in. His vision was nothing but green and black for a moment. After less than a second, all there was was black.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gordon let out a tired sigh as he stood against the wall. They were at the Lambda complex alright. 

He and his friends walked through the yellow hallways. They stopped at a glass door, inside the room a scientist was sitting on the floor with his face in his hands. A guard was sitting next to him, with his hand on his shoulder. 

They both took notice of Gordon and his friends, the scientist said, Oh! Gordon, you’re here! Thank God.” 

“Yeah...we made it.”

“Listen, I know you've just arrived, but we need to hurry! There are aliens in the other room, the gateway was opened way before it should have been.”

“I-Okay? Alright, I guess we're doing this now. Why was the gateway or portal thing opened up early?” Gordon asked.

“I-er…” The scientist once again put his face in his hands. The guard put both of his hands on the scientist’s shoulders and said, “A guard came in here asking to be sent to the border world. He-it, no, it put a Goddamn gun to its head and pulled the trigger, it didn’t fucking die. We let it through, and it went to the Border world.”

“That sounds like Benrey, yeah nothing can kill him.”

Tommy had a look of confusion and asked, “Wha- why would Mr. Benrey go to the alien planet before us though?”

“I believe he wants to do what he calls a ‘level speedrun’, Tommy” Dr. Coomer answered “Although, I do believe it’s rude he wanted to do such a thing without us. I’m not the type to rush a good killing spree, but it would have been fun to slaughter more of these things as a group.”

Gordon looked at the both of them and said, “Guys, can we just ponder this stuff at a later time? Because the dumbass fucking decided to go on ahead, and now there's like what? A bunch of other aliens in the other room that were gonna have to deal with. Jesus, I don’t know what the fuck Benrey’s planning, but I get the feeling it’s gonna end in a train wreck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also if you wanna check out my tumblr, it's @stickygurl1234


	4. Not An Ideal Place To Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home sweet home.

Everything was dark for a brief moment.

Benrey opened his eyes and breathed sharply through his nose.

He felt his chest tighten as he stared at the floating landscapes below him, he sure was at Xen.

He scanned pieces of floating earth for any glowing circles, trying to look for what could be the entrance to the Nihilanth’s lair. He scowled his face slightly, this was gonna be a tricky navigation.

He never really got a good look at the outside world. He knew what the outside looked like, but he spent most of his days inside caves. 

He jumped onto another floating island, there he saw a corpse that had an H.E.V. suit on.

“oh shit, guess Feetman’s got some clones as well.” He thought as he gently kicked the dead body. The body slipped off the island and slowly floated down into the abyss.

He sprang from one floating island to another until he got the largest one. He jumped on the giant spike protruding from the side of the landscape and walked into the Peeper Puppy den.

One Peeper Puppy ran towards him and screeched at him. Benrey wasn’t bothered by it, he didn’t plan on focusing on the wildlife.

He walked through the fleshy wall and ended up in a room somewhat filled with what looked like giant, skinny Headcrabs.

He was slightly surprised, he never saw any plants/organisms like this when he was younger.

He noticed three machine-looking objects, all sitting atop different boulders. Each having a glowing yellow light on top. He pressed what looked like a switch on them, as a result, the claws lowered and small crystals began floating toward the machines. The machines latched onto the crystals and suddenly green lasers shot up towards the ceiling. In the center of the room, the lasers merged together and a white ball formed in the middle.

“sick.” Benrey thought as he walked towards it.

He was teleported to a reddish island with more of the long Headcrab-looking plants.

He noticed another corpse with an H.E.V. suit on. “Feetman’s clones really know how to wayne it.” He muttered.

He heard a familiar sounding growl and turned to see a Gonarch walking around. He had never fully seen a Gonarch in person, but he used to put his ear to the cave wall and would listen to them stomping around and growling.

The Gonarch took notice of Benrey and shot some white, sticky substance at him. Benrey stepped to the side, but wasn’t quick enough to dodge a small amount that landed on his shoulder.

He quietly hissed in pain as it melted through his shirt and onto his skin. He healed his shoulder and started shooting at the giant monster. It began to run away, breaking through thin walls that blocked its escape. Benrey picked up the ammo by the corpse and started chasing it. He started laughing and yelled, “running wont save you bitcchh!”.

Benrey followed the spider-like monster down a giant hole. It ran into a room full of light and stood near the back wall.

When Benrey entered the room, he fell straight through and landed awkwardly. The monster eventually fell through as well and succumbed to the bullets Benrey kept shooting at it. It exploded and left a huge hole in the ground.

Benrey hopped into the hole and landed in a puddle. He was once again teleported and was sent to a more pinkish area that had holes forming in the ground. He saw orangeish flat creatures flying around.

He jogged through the landscape, looking for any caves.

Vortiguants began teleporting left and right. Benrey found himself slowing down to look back and began to pick up his pace.

He ran into a cave that had green lighting and found a small hole blocked off by that weird webbing that kept appearing. He phased through it and started crawling through the tight trail. He crawled inside a small room that had tiny, waving appendages on the floor and ceiling.

The room suddenly began to shake and the giant spike that was part of the room began to lower.

When it fully went into the ground, Benrey sat on it and began to reload his gun. The blunt spike lifted him out of the cave and high into the air.

Flying Xenian Militia began to appear and started shooting at him. He found a strange structure that looked similar to the one in the room with the strange plants.

He found it slightly funny that he didn’t know that much about Xen, the technology, the layout, some of the ecosystem. It didn’t bother him though.

He jumped onto a manta ray that was heading towards the structure’s direction. As he got close enough, he jumped towards it.

The next area he was sent to was the most intimidating one. It looked like a military base and it was filled with Alien Grunts.

Benrey wanted nothing to do with the area. He went into the ground and “snuck” across the base. He found the next teleporter rather quickly.

He was moderately amazed by the factory he saw.

“damn, i didn’t know oddworld took place on Xen.”

The next teleporter was difficult to find, the whole factory was a huge maze. It was much larger than he thought it was, and the security there was bigger than the one at the security base.

When he was teleported again, he sat down. The final teleporter was huge and he knew it led to where the Nihilanth was.

He stared at the red beam for what felt like ten minutes. He couldn’t admit it to himself, but he was worried. This was the being that managed to enslave a race of powerful Aliens. He had no idea of what it was capable of.

He thought that it was stupid to be worried, he somehow has powers no other person does. If he gets electrocuted or burned or something, he could just heal himself. He had powers that almost made him a lot more powerful than most of the creatures on this shitty, broken planet.

But it still took him a while to stand up. He made his way to the teleporter and stared at it. It totally looked like the entrance to a boss fight.

He took a deep breath and ran towards it.

“Benrey…”

Benrey slowly floated towards the water-soaked ground. During the small trip he looked towards the booming, yet calm voice. All he saw was a giant mass, looking back at him.


	5. i dont want to come back here

“fuck.” Was all Benrey could say.

The mere sight of the Nihilanth left him frozen as he started to float down.

He knew the creature was probably going to be big, but holy shit was this thing big. He thought that it was only going to be twice the size of a Gargantua.

Its size wasn’t the only thing intimidating about it, its face was absolutely horrifying. The dead look in its eyes bothered him greatly.

Its mouth was even more horrifying. It was smaller than it should have been, and from what he could see, the creature had multiple rows of serrated teeth. Orange lights were circling the top of the Nihilanth's head, occasionally shooting what looked like a lightning beam at the center.

The behemoth raised the arm from its chest, which Benrey now noticed, towards him. It spread its pointy fingers apart, trying to grab at Benrey. Benrey scrambled away and pointed his gun in the direction of the beast’s right eye. He shot at it, but it had no effect on the Nihilanth.

It looked like the bullet had bounced straight off.

Benrey, figuring that the Nihilanth had armoured eyes, started shooting at the small limb that was reaching out to grab him. It had the same effect, the bullet ricocheted into oblivion.

When Benrey was low enough to notice the giant machine his enemy was attached to, he figured that the machine was the sensitive part.

He thought, “oh shit, hes the reverse version of Elboze Freely. this world sure has a lot of oddworld references.”

He unloaded a barrage of bullets at the floating piece of machinery. He scrunched his face in disappointment and worry when it had no effect.

When he landed on the ground, he ran around the area, looking for a weak spot to shoot at. The only resolution he could come up with was to shoot at the stitches on the stomach.

He grunted in frustration when it didn’t do anything. Was this fucking thing bullet proof? It didn’t really make sense, none of the other creatures were.

He was worried about what would happen if he ran out of ammo. He didn’t want to have to resort to turning himself into a behemoth, he knew that it would put a lot of stress on his body and he wouldn’t be able to heal as fast.

He ducked behind one of the pointy pillars to dodge the circular rays that were thrown at him.

When he felt it was safe to move, he repeated his strategy of looking for any weak spot.

When he got underneath the Nihilanth, he didn’t notice it putting its hands together. A giant green beam emerged and started to follow Benrey’s movements. When it hit Benrey, he winced, expecting a huge burning sensation. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a completely different area. He didn’t have time to fully process what happened as flying Xenian Militia started attacking him. After taking them all out, he began to climb upwards.

When he was halfway through the tall cave, he found a third corpse in an H.E.V suit. “damn, all of Gordon's clones are noobs compared to him.” He mused.

He snatched up all the leftover ammo and continued his trek. He jumped towards the glowing light at the top and returned to the Nihilanth’s lair. This time, the Nihilanth brought helpers. More flying Xenian Militia materialized. Benrey took out one after another, he started to panic when there seemed to be no end of the onslaught. They were almost swarming in like ants, and before Benrey knew it, he ran out of ammo. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hello? Oh...oh God. They weren’t lying. How- we all made it right? Dr. Coomer, Tommy- Where’s Bubby?” Gordon asked, almost circling himself. 

“Behind you.” 

“Oh fuc- Okay, okay. So we’re all here.” Gordon said. He practically spun around, trying to take in all the sights before him.

“Oh God, I am not prepared for this at all. Fuck! Why the hell did Benrey come here? He probably riled up all the creatures that live here and now we’re gonna have to deal with a huge swarm of them. And how are we supposed to find this thing? They said ‘we’ll know it when we see it’, but where the fuck are we supposed to go?”

Dr. Coomer walked behind him and slapped his back, “Well Gordon, there’s only one way to look for it. We have to put our parkour skills to use!” He said ecstatically before immediately breaking into a sprint to jump off the tiny island.

“Dr. Coomer, wait!”. Gordon shouted, he started to chase after him before halting in his tracks when he saw him launch real high into the air.

“The gravity’s lower here?”

Dr. Coomer waved at Gordon from the other small island. Once determining that it was safe to go, the group made their way down.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Benrey threw his gun into the water with a huff. “god **fucking** dammit.” He muttered. This whole plan was going to shit. He gritted his teeth.

Welp, guess he's gonna have to use his last resort.

A loud boom erupted and yellow and white lights flashed in the room. Blinding any organism inside.

The Nihilanth flinched and covered its eyes. It stared in utter shock at the sight before it. Benrey was standing at the same level as it. He was taller, but the behemoth's body was smaller.

Benrey pulled out his baton and charged at his enemy. He whacked its forehead as hard as he could. The baton bounced off like rubber and it made Benrey stumble. He rested his hand on one of the pointy boulders and delivered a kick to the Nihilanth's temple. The force of the kick made him rest his body weight on the sharp rock.

The crimson rock broke apart and Benrey collided into the wall. The side of his helmet crashed into a yellow, triangular object. The gadget exploded at the impact.

His enemy's face contorted in fear at the destruction of the machinery. A dim light flashed around its body. Benrey put the two and two together and said enthusiastically, "ohhh…youre not like the reverse of Elboze Freely, youre basically just Sekto. now i know how to kick your ass."

He ran towards the other triangular device and bashed it as hard as he could with his baton. As the pieces of the machine fell, Benrey gave a chilling grin to the Nihilanth. The beast had a nervous look on its face and began to float backwards.

Benrey grabbed its right arm and started to bludgeon its head with his full strength. Blood began to splatter on his suit and face. His enemy didn’t cry out in pain, its face was scrunched up, but it made no screams. It wasn’t even trying to fight back, it was resting against the wall with its hands on its face.

He was kind of disappointed, he wanted to hear it squeal.

He supposed that slicing it might do the trick.

He pulled out his multi-tool and took out the knife. He only got one stab in before he froze. His leg began to burn, quiet badly in fact.

He looked down to see a group of Vortiguants. He was going to pay no attention to them, but one in particular stood out to him.

His skin was darker, and more green than grey. His head was bowed while he shot bolts at Benrey’s gigantic leg.

Benrey lowered his arm and stared at the Vortiguant before him. He felt his eyelids stretch uncomfortably far. This was one of his guardians.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Damn, I thought it was going to be harder to progress through this world.” Gordon said, shooting an infant headcrab. 

“I think Mr. Benrey did a lot of the work for us.” Tommy said.

“I can tell, but why though? I thought that he just wanted to go home or something, not go into the root of this huge mess.”

“Gordon, didn’t you hear me earlier? He wanted to do a speedrun through this place. It must be why all of those portals were already opened up for us.” Dr. Coomer stated, punching one of the dead parasitic infants. 

“Look, I’m not complaining. Hopefully he’s killing the thing we’re supposed to fight, and getting killed in the process. I’m just really confused.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Benrey felt his heartbeat begin to quicken, there he was.

The one he called Bibi who was basically an uncle figure to him, was standing right in front of him.

It was very likely that the Vortiguant didn’t recognize him. As his face seemed to be full of fear, and he wasn’t resisting at all to attack him.

A lot of emotions were running through him, part of him was really pissed. He felt like the Nihilanth must have known which one of its slaves were important to him, and was using this against him.

Benrey looked to the ground and muttered in Vortigese loud enough for Bibi to hear, “ _thats so mean of you, didn’t you guys want someone to fight for your freedom?”_

The Vortiguant’s eyes widened and looked up at him. His mouth opened like he was about to say something, but then immediately grunted as he tried to grab at his wrists.

It seemed like he was trying to fight against doing the task mentally assigned to him. It didn’t look like he was going to win.

He looked at Benrey with a tear-filled “I’m sorry” look as he started to electrocute his leg again.

Benrey huffed, this wasn’t how he planned his family reunion.

He turned around to stab the beast again when he felt something sharp get lodged underneath his bullet-proof vest and into his stomach. He looked down to see it was the giant rock he broke earlier.

Apparently it wasn’t the only rock that was broken during their squabble, as the Nihilanth hit his jaw with a much longer rock. A few of Benrey’s teeth got knocked out in the process.

Benrey stepped back, shit did that hurt.

He raised his multi-tool to stab the Nihilanth, but before he had the chance to, a shower of rays hit different parts of his body all at once.

Okay, this was starting to get concerning. His body was taking much more damage than he was used to.

He felt both of his wrists suddenly being grabbed and squeezed. His body was suddenly being pushed back, He hissed in pain when his legs got sliced up by the rocks. His body rammed into the wall very harshly.

Okay, now this was getting REALLY concerning. He shouldn’t be losing to this crippled, Jimmy Neutron-looking overlord.

He let a small cry as he was pulled forward and smashed against the wall over and over, and over. He started to feel dizzy and his legs began to wobble. He tried to wriggle his wrists against the Nihilanth’s grip, but his body was starting to lose strength. He felt himself black out for a second.

This was really bad, this should not be happening. This wasn’t **supposed** to be happening, he can’t die, especially not here. His family spent so long trying to protect him and to find a way to get him away from this shitty world. He just wanted to return the favor.

He gritted his teeth, and with an angered grunt, he shoved the beast off of him. He picked up his weapons and began to sprint towards it.

Another loud boom suddenly erupted and he turned to see the Science team.

Saying they were extremely surprised was putting it lightly, Gordon was screaming “What the fuck is going on?”. And the rest of the team seemed to be put in a state of shock or wonder.

The Nihilanth took advantage of the distraction to bash Benrey once again in the face with the broken rock.

Benrey stumbled back and lost his balance. His foot slipped on a more slimey part of the ground and he began to fall.

The gravity was already low on this world, but Benrey felt like he was falling slower than he should be.

His heartbeat was beginning to beat at a pace he didn’t know was possible.

This monster was winning. It was going to **win**.

His brain began to flash snippets of his childhood. One memory suddenly stayed and started to play out like a movie. The day he was given his freedom.

It was somewhere around night time and he was drawing on the wall.

His guardians and a couple other Vortiguants he was familiar with, walked up behind him. The one who was the most like a parent to him, the one he called Bahbi, gently said his name, and started to say the monologue that stuck with him for the rest of his life. His flashback stayed in his mind as he crashed into the ground.

The Nihilanth brought its arms together, getting ready to shoot at Benrey again. 

“ _My little runt, today is the day you will no longer have to stay in this awful, awful world.”_

Benrey got on all fours and tried to crawl away, but the water made his left arm and leg slip.

The Nihilanth must have been really angry and put all of its strength into its attack, because when Benrey tried to move, he realized his left limbs were gone.

“ _You won’t become a slave like us, and you won’t become food for any of these creatures.”_

He looked up to see the Nihilanth charging up another attack. This one looked pretty big.

He covered his face in his arm as a weak attempt to shield himself.

“ _Where you came from, we found it. We became connected to it, and we can send you there. Please, Benrey, please, take advantage of this freedom. Don’t let yourself be controlled. Forget about this place if you can, and if you must...forget about us if it becomes too much to bear.”_

Tears began to spill down his cheeks and he choked out a quiet sob. That wasn't fair at all. The price of freedom meant the price of happiness. And now he wasn’t ever going to get his happiness back.

The gigantic beam was brought down onto his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, don't worry. this isn't the end. There will be another chapter. Also, to those who didn't get the reference, the names Bibi and Bahbi are referencing Holly's bird and the baby from scorpy's streams.


	6. I'm So Sorry

Benrey’s body stopped moving completely. It was hard to tell if the guard was alive or not, it didn’t look like he was breathing, and his injuries seemed moderately lethal. His lower half looked like charcoal and the smell of burnt skin filled the huge cave. Blood was oozing out from his stomach, and half of his limbs were gone. 

He laid with his head in his arm, and his leg curled up. In what some might see as a sorry excuse of a defensive position. 

The Nihilanth looked down at him, and launched another attack. Benrey was once again hit with a beam. 

Bibi instantly ran towards Benrey, he put his hands on the giant guard’s helmet and began to shout in worry. 

The Science team could only watch in shock and utter confusion. None of them knew what the hell was going on. 

Tommy was the first one to break out of his daze, he shouted Benrey's name in concern and pulled out his gun. It seemed to break everyone else out of their daze. 

The Nihilanth didn't notice the Science team, it realized that it was victorious with its battle with Benrey and lowered its head to count the wounds. It seemed to be distracted, which gave the Science team to plan their next move.

“Oh...oh shit, I think this is it guys. They were right when they said that ‘we’ll know it when we see it’. I don’t think we’ll have to do much, but we gotta give it everything we got.” Gordon said, charging his arm.

“I just hope Bipple’s sacrifice won’t end up in vain.” Dr. Coomer said somberly.

The Nihilanth let out a frustrated scream when a shower of bullets hit its body. It wailed its arms around. Light sputtered from its hands, but all that came out was sparks. It seemed like the beast was too tired and weak to defend itself any further. 

When Gordon jumped onto one of the pads and shot inside its head, it began to convulse. Green lightning began to strike at the top of the cave. And a giant circular white light suddenly appeared. The Nihilanth began to float upwards. Its arms shot out, and its head began to spasm violently. 

“My God, it’s beautiful.” Dr. Coomer said out loud.

“UM GUYS, I THINK ITS ABOUT TO BLOW UP!” Gordon shouted in worry.

“I-uh, how will we get out of here? Wait Gordon! Didn’t you say that Mr. Benrey somehow got to places that were impossible for him to end up in? Like he-he was able to teleport?”

“Uh yeah, I don’t know for sure if he can get us out of here though, I don’t think he’ll be able to get us out of here though.”

“I don’t see any other option, Gordon!” exclaimed Bubby.

The team ran towards Benrey, Tommy ran to his shoulder and began shoving it. The team copied what he did, they all started to push and shove his body. Gordon started to wack him with his gun arm. 

Benrey shifted, he moved his face slightly from his arm. He opened his eye to see Bibi and the other Vortiguants the Nihilanth summoned to attack him. 

Bibi’s face had a look of relief for a brief moment, until another loud boom erupted from the room. Benrey finally registered the danger in the room, he reached his giant arm out to wrap around the Vortiguants. 

The Science team took notice of this and ran to jump in Benrey’s arm.  Suddenly, with a flash, they all disappeared. 

None of the Vortiguants or Benrey noticed the sudden disappearance of the team. 

With a grunt, he phased through the ground. They all fell for what felt like almost a minute. They all collided onto a small island. 

The island above them finally exploded. Bibi and the others stood in utter shock and awe. It was over, their forced employment to the beast, the fear that they would never be a free species again, the sad, sad idea that they would never see the little alien, that some viewed as their hero, again. 

Bibi walked towards Benrey, the smile that crept on his face withered and he fell to his knees. He pressed his face to Benrey’s arm and began to sob, his little wretch was back. The little wretch he and his siblings found one day, crying in the corpse of a creature they had never seen before. The little wretch they sent away to never see again, because they didn’t want him to get killed by any of the nasty monsters on Xen, or turned into a slave like them. He felt the arm shift and looked up to see Benrey looking at him, Benrey gently pressed his giant fingers to the side of Bibi’s head. A tear dripped down his face as he stared back at him. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’re talking about Benrey right? He’s gone?” Gordon asked.

“Yes, the one you call ‘Ben rey’. I’ve been advised to my employers, that his true nature is on something of a…’need-to-know’ basis. And you, Dr. Freeman...do not need to know.” G-man replied.

“Can I atleast know why he caused all of this?”

G-man paused for a moment and responded, “Family matters, simply.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOF, im really sorry that this chapter took a while to publish. But its here, the possible end to this work, not the end to this series. I have two prequels planned, one that goes into how Benrey was born on Xen, and one that takes place before Benrey knows what a resonance cascade is.


End file.
